Fatal Drive-By Gunman Gets 19 Years to Life

A San Diego heavy-equipment operator was sentenced Monday to 19 years to life in state prison for killing a teen-age girl during a drive-by shooting committed in retaliation for a drug deal gone bad.

Michael Hansen, 24, was convicted last month of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Diane Rosalez, an eighth-grader at Granger Junior High School. Rosalez was talking to her stepfather on the phone Sept. 19 when one of the 11 rounds fired by Hansen struck her in the head.

“He took the life of a beautiful 13-year-old girl,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Elizabeth Porterfield said. “She was the shining light of that family.”

Reiterating the facts of the case that were revealed during the trial, Porterfield told Superior Court Judge Bernard E. Revak that Hansen emptied the clip of a 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun into a Paradise Hills duplex “in retaliation because he was ripped off in a $40 drug deal.”

Hansen and two others not charged in the case believed that the man responsible for the rip-off in the methamphetamine deal lived in the same house as Rosalez.

During a pre-sentencing hearing, defense attorney Kay Sunday asked Revak to reduce the second-degree murder conviction to manslaughter because the jury told her that “we believe he intended to shoot into the dwelling, but we do not believe he had the intention to shoot anyone.”

Revak denied the request after Porterfield argued that Hansen committed an intentional act that led to the unintentional killing.

“My hope is that (this sentence) will send a message to people who engage in drive-by shootings,” Revak said.

Sunday said in court that Hansen was not a gang member, and that Hansen was drunk when he fired into the house.